Former Menifee Planning Commissioner files amended lawsuit

Miller alleges that he was wrongfully dismissed from Planning Commission in January; 8 defendants named

Four city employees, three City Council members and a fellow planning commissioner have been named in an amended lawsuit filed recently by former Menifee Planning Commissioner Marc Miller.

The suit alleges that the defendants, including Menifee City Attorney Joe Fletcher and Councilwoman Sue Kristjansson, wrongfully dismissed Miller from the Planning Commission in January.

Other defendants listed in the amended lawsuit are City Manager Bill Rawlings, City Clerk Kathy Bennett, Community Development Director Carmen Cave, Councilwoman Darcy Kuenzi, Mayor John Denver and Planning Commissioner Chris Thomas.

The amended suit is more comprehensive than the original complaint filed in July.

In Menifee, each member of the City Council selects his or her own representative to serve on the five-member Planning Commission. Miller was originally appointed in 2009 by then-Councilman Fred Twyman, who died in June 2011.

Kristjansson eventually was chosen to succeed Twyman and she, in turn, chose in January to replace Miller on the commission with her own appointee, Chad Warren.

In his complaint, Miller contends that his dismissal was a violation of state and municipal laws. The city statute says that a commissioner can be replaced by the appointing council member or by a vote of the full council. Miller argues that because no vote was taken, he should have been allowed to stay on the commission until Twyman’s term came to an official close at the end of this year.

Miller did not return phone calls, and his attorney could not be reached for comment.

Miller has stated on numerous occasions that if the council had taken a vote, he wouldn’t have filed the lawsuit. He has said he doubts he would have kept his seat given that Kristjansson, Kuenzi and Denver typically vote together on the five-member board.

Kristjansson said Friday there is nothing new in the lawsuit and that she still stands “100 percent behind making the change on the Planning Commission.”

“I think I was well within my rights to do it,” she said.

At the time, Kristjansson said she proceeded with the dismissal on the advice of Fletcher. Fletcher has said that an opinion he wrote favoring Kristjansson’s position in December 2011 was based on the combination of city and state regulations, as well as case law that indicates it would be “practical” and “reasonable and common sense” to allow the councilwoman to remove Miller from the commission.

Fletcher also stated in his report to the council that “the issue is a matter of statutory opinion.”

Fletcher said Friday that there is no new information in the amended lawsuit and that it’s “full of a lot of stuff that’s irrelevant.”

Miller’s amended complaint alleges that his dismissal stems directly from a dispute involving the General Plan. The important land-use element of that plan was about to be heard by the commission at the time he was replaced.

The former commissioner is a well-known rancher in the community and is generally considered one of the leaders in the drive for cityhood in the last decade.

He contends that events surrounding his removal have led to “abject humiliation” and “emotional distress.”

In June, after the original court complaint was filed, Miller suffered a stroke that led to considerable time in the hospital.